FOR GOOD OR ELSE? CHISTIAN HOUSES IN TURKEY MARKED
EuropeNews
923
Sept 2 2009
Denmark
Our Austrian correspondent ESW has translated a report from Die Presse
about ominous new developments in Istanbul that bode ill for Turkey’s
few remaining Christians:
Strangers "marking" Christian buildings in Istanbul
Buildings inhabited by Christians have been marked with insignias
in several districts of Istanbul. The labeling of the buildings are
clearly done in concert with increasing harassment of the Christian
inhabitants.
Some buildings in the traditionally Christian districts of
Feriköy and Kurtulus have recently been labeled with green and red
signs. Apparently they were affixed to point to buildings inhabited
by Armenians and Greeks. The labels appear to be in conjunction with
complaints from Christians about increasing harassment, according
to Sehabat Tuncel, a member of parliament asked in a parliamentary
questioning.
Besir Atalay, minister of interior, is now forced to answer these
allegations. "Who affixed these markings?" is only one of the questions
cited by the press. The ministry must also make clear whether the
police received orders to take action and investigate.
Patriarch on a death list
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Residing in the Phanar in Istanbul, ecumenical patriarch
Bartholomaios I has apparently been added to a death list kept by the
nationalist-laicist secret society "Ergenekon", which is accused of
trying to push Turkey into chaos with its assassination attempts.
The EU Commission has repeatedly requested Turkey’s cooperation
on effective measures to improve the precarious situation of the
non-Muslim population.
Remembering the 1955 pogrom on Christians
The marking on Christian buildings in Istanbul is a reminder of pogrom
against Christian minorities in September 1955. Back then Christian
buildings and shops had been marked by nationalist activists. The
bloody riots with dozens of dead in Istanbul and Izmir were ostensibly
triggered by the Cyprus conflict; however, the true reason was the
search for scapegoats at a time of economic recession for Turkey.
A mob of fanatics burned down seventy-two Orthodox churches and more
than thirty schools in Istanbul, defaced Christian cemeteries, and
destroyed around 3,500 homes and more than 4,000 shops. The police
watched the plundering and raping, not lifting a finger. Nobel prize
winner Orhan Pamuk, who also writes about the Armenian genocide of
1915, describes the blind destruction in his memoirs.